Flavor Boulevard http://www.flavorboulevard.com Where we empty our heart out after we fill our stomach Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:40:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Monkey diary – three days as a fruitarian http://www.flavorboulevard.com/monkey-diary-three-days-as-a-fruitarian/ http://www.flavorboulevard.com/monkey-diary-three-days-as-a-fruitarian/#comments Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:40:13 +0000 Mai Truong http://www.flavorboulevard.com/?p=6692 Plagued by the reality of industrial farming described by Michael Pollan, I’ve decided to try a fruit-and-seed diet, which would consist of only things that can be harvested without killing the plants. At first I thought it would be pretty restrictive, but a lot of vegetables are fruits: tomato, cucumber, bittermelon, bell pepper, chayote, green beans, eggplants, etc. Cereal is the hard part. I wasn’t sure if I should include corn, rice, wheat and other grains in [...]

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]]> http://www.flavorboulevard.com/monkey-diary-three-days-as-a-fruitarian/feed/ 0 Plagued by the reality of industrial farming described by Michael Pollan, I’ve decided to try a fruit-and-seed diet, which would consist of only things that can be harvested without killing the plants. At first I thought it would be pretty restrictive, but a lot of vegetables are fruits: tomato, cucumber, bittermelon, bell pepper, chayote, green beans, eggplants, etc. Cereal is the hard part. I wasn’t sure if I should include corn, rice, wheat and other grains in [...]

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 Face the omnivore’s dilemma http://www.flavorboulevard.com/face-the-omnivores-dilemma/ http://www.flavorboulevard.com/face-the-omnivores-dilemma/#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:01:21 +0000 Mai Truong http://www.flavorboulevard.com/?p=6545 omnivore Did you know that the koala, the pickiest eater on Earth, has a brain so small that “doesn’t even begin to fill up its skull”? The variety of one’s diet correlates with the size of one’s brain. Whether the reason might be the low nutrition (which makes it more economical to shrink your brain and conserve energy) or the simplicity of a diet that requires no thinking (when you see the food world as eucalyptus and non-eucalyptus, what to [...]

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]]> http://www.flavorboulevard.com/face-the-omnivores-dilemma/feed/ 0 omnivore Did you know that the koala, the pickiest eater on Earth, has a brain so small that “doesn’t even begin to fill up its skull”? The variety of one’s diet correlates with the size of one’s brain. Whether the reason might be the low nutrition (which makes it more economical to shrink your brain and conserve energy) or the simplicity of a diet that requires no thinking (when you see the food world as eucalyptus and non-eucalyptus, what to [...]

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 The macaron that keeps you wanting for more http://www.flavorboulevard.com/the-macaron-that-keeps-you-wanting-for-more/ http://www.flavorboulevard.com/the-macaron-that-keeps-you-wanting-for-more/#comments Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:38:25 +0000 Mai Truong http://www.flavorboulevard.com/?p=6672 DSC_0557 What defines a good macaron? I googled, but found only “10 signs of a bad macaron“. My pâtissière friend Hanna Lim told me a few criteria: a good macaron should look smooth on the surface, crunchy (but not crumbly) on the outside and a little chewy(*) inside, it should not fall apart when you take a bite, it should be a clean bite – no crumbs, no cream spewing out on the side. Looking through [...]

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]]> http://www.flavorboulevard.com/the-macaron-that-keeps-you-wanting-for-more/feed/ 0 DSC_0557 What defines a good macaron? I googled, but found only “10 signs of a bad macaron“. My pâtissière friend Hanna Lim told me a few criteria: a good macaron should look smooth on the surface, crunchy (but not crumbly) on the outside and a little chewy(*) inside, it should not fall apart when you take a bite, it should be a clean bite – no crumbs, no cream spewing out on the side. Looking through [...]

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 Little Texas Cookbook http://www.flavorboulevard.com/little-texas-cookbook/ http://www.flavorboulevard.com/little-texas-cookbook/#comments Wed, 29 May 2013 19:05:56 +0000 Mai Truong http://www.flavorboulevard.com/?p=6650 little-texas-cookbook Found this little guy on a bookshelf at home. I couldn’t sleep last night and was browsing the shelves for something to read (which is obviously a great idea to cure insomnia – the more I read the more awake I am, unless it’s a physics book). As a pâtissière friend says, recipe books are only for ideas, so I never read them (I hardly even look at them at bookstores). My mother, like all Vietnamese mothers, [...]

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]]> http://www.flavorboulevard.com/little-texas-cookbook/feed/ 0 little-texas-cookbook Found this little guy on a bookshelf at home. I couldn’t sleep last night and was browsing the shelves for something to read (which is obviously a great idea to cure insomnia – the more I read the more awake I am, unless it’s a physics book). As a pâtissière friend says, recipe books are only for ideas, so I never read them (I hardly even look at them at bookstores). My mother, like all Vietnamese mothers, [...]

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 Tinh Luat restaurant – thoughtful vegan food http://www.flavorboulevard.com/tinh-luat-restaurant-thoughtful-vegan-food/ http://www.flavorboulevard.com/tinh-luat-restaurant-thoughtful-vegan-food/#comments Sun, 26 May 2013 16:37:36 +0000 Mai Truong http://www.flavorboulevard.com/?p=6585 tinh-luat-sugarcane-juice In this unassuming restaurant, I found the best sugarcane juice I’ve ever had. When the waiter asked if we would like three glasses of fresh-squeezed(*) sugarcane juice for the table, only my dad was persuaded. The waiter was quite earnest too, he insisted that it was good and that it would induce no extra cost (the meal is buffet-style for a modest $8.99/person, roughly the cost of a bowl of pho in Berkeley). However, the sugarcane juices [...]

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]]> http://www.flavorboulevard.com/tinh-luat-restaurant-thoughtful-vegan-food/feed/ 0 tinh-luat-sugarcane-juice In this unassuming restaurant, I found the best sugarcane juice I’ve ever had. When the waiter asked if we would like three glasses of fresh-squeezed(*) sugarcane juice for the table, only my dad was persuaded. The waiter was quite earnest too, he insisted that it was good and that it would induce no extra cost (the meal is buffet-style for a modest $8.99/person, roughly the cost of a bowl of pho in Berkeley). However, the sugarcane juices [...]

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 Revisit Gather http://www.flavorboulevard.com/revisit-gather-berkeley/ http://www.flavorboulevard.com/revisit-gather-berkeley/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 19:20:30 +0000 Mai Truong http://www.flavorboulevard.com/?p=6535 gather-desserts Let me first get this off my chest: I hate restaurants with low lighting (e.g., Burma Superstar and Bistro Liaison), red lights (e.g., Thanh Long and Mission Chinese), and yellow lights (Gather). Why can’t we have nice white neon lights? I don’t go there to film romantic dinner scenes or deal drugs under the table. I go there to eat food, I want to be able to see the true [...]

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]]> http://www.flavorboulevard.com/revisit-gather-berkeley/feed/ 0 gather-desserts Let me first get this off my chest: I hate restaurants with low lighting (e.g., Burma Superstar and Bistro Liaison), red lights (e.g., Thanh Long and Mission Chinese), and yellow lights (Gather). Why can’t we have nice white neon lights? I don’t go there to film romantic dinner scenes or deal drugs under the table. I go there to eat food, I want to be able to see the true [...]

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 One shot: Avocado smoothie http://www.flavorboulevard.com/one-shot-avocado-smoothie/ http://www.flavorboulevard.com/one-shot-avocado-smoothie/#comments Sun, 19 May 2013 18:23:27 +0000 Mai Truong http://www.flavorboulevard.com/?p=6558 avocado-smoothie This post is for the Vietnamese expats in particular and anyone who thinks of the avocado as a fruit (to be eaten as a fruit, not a vegetable). In America, people tend to think of avocado in guacamole terms or as a meat substitute in sandwiches. If you think avocado for dessert is weird, shall we talk about your pumpkin pie? Ever since the day I saw the option of “avocado smoothie” at UCafe, I’ve [...]

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]]> http://www.flavorboulevard.com/one-shot-avocado-smoothie/feed/ 2 avocado-smoothie This post is for the Vietnamese expats in particular and anyone who thinks of the avocado as a fruit (to be eaten as a fruit, not a vegetable). In America, people tend to think of avocado in guacamole terms or as a meat substitute in sandwiches. If you think avocado for dessert is weird, shall we talk about your pumpkin pie? Ever since the day I saw the option of “avocado smoothie” at UCafe, I’ve [...]

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 Two scientists take on all Indian restaurants in Berkeley http://www.flavorboulevard.com/two-scientists-take-on-all-indian-restaurants-in-berkeley/ http://www.flavorboulevard.com/two-scientists-take-on-all-indian-restaurants-in-berkeley/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 18:38:41 +0000 Mai Truong http://www.flavorboulevard.com/?p=6540 Hull and Surendranath examine the inscription on a spoon at Bombay Cuisine. Hull and Surendranath examine the inscription on a spoon at Bombay Cuisine. What do grad students do? Some of us write, some of us teach, most of us don’t sleep, all of us eat. For Astronomy PhD student Chat Hull and his friend Yogesh Surendranath, a Chemistry postdoctoral fellow, eating at every single Indian restaurant in Berkeley and writing about it is high on the priority list. Berkeley has no shortage of Indian restaurants for the duo to [...]

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]]> http://www.flavorboulevard.com/two-scientists-take-on-all-indian-restaurants-in-berkeley/feed/ 0 Hull and Surendranath examine the inscription on a spoon at Bombay Cuisine. Hull and Surendranath examine the inscription on a spoon at Bombay Cuisine. What do grad students do? Some of us write, some of us teach, most of us don’t sleep, all of us eat. For Astronomy PhD student Chat Hull and his friend Yogesh Surendranath, a Chemistry postdoctoral fellow, eating at every single Indian restaurant in Berkeley and writing about it is high on the priority list. Berkeley has no shortage of Indian restaurants for the duo to [...]

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 Foodie http://www.flavorboulevard.com/foodie/ http://www.flavorboulevard.com/foodie/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 19:44:14 +0000 Mai Truong http://www.flavorboulevard.com/?p=6525 Many of my food-loving friends don’t consider themselves foodie. Many of my food-loving friends do consider themselves foodies. Restauranteurs hate foodies. My cousin hates foodies. I asked him why. - They don’t cook and they sit around discussing how the food should be done. He hit the nail on the head right there. I don’t cook, and I sit around saying this needs more salt and that needs less sugar. Does that mean I’m a foodie? I’ve [...]

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]]> http://www.flavorboulevard.com/foodie/feed/ 2 Many of my food-loving friends don’t consider themselves foodie. Many of my food-loving friends do consider themselves foodies. Restauranteurs hate foodies. My cousin hates foodies. I asked him why. - They don’t cook and they sit around discussing how the food should be done. He hit the nail on the head right there. I don’t cook, and I sit around saying this needs more salt and that needs less sugar. Does that mean I’m a foodie? I’ve [...]

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 B-Dama – Taste fresher than fresh http://www.flavorboulevard.com/b-dama-oakland-taste-fresher-than-fresh/ http://www.flavorboulevard.com/b-dama-oakland-taste-fresher-than-fresh/#comments Fri, 03 May 2013 22:41:57 +0000 Mai Truong http://www.flavorboulevard.com/?p=6489 b-dama-monkfish-liver Why don’t I like spicy food? For the same reason I don’t like cupcakes, Chicago pizza or anything that has too much of something for me to taste anything else. For the same reason I shunned sushi for almost 10 years: the first time I had sushi I scooped a spoonful of the lovely green paste into my mouth. Those were 10 years that I could have enjoyed so many hamachi nigiri. It’s sad. But that aside, [...]

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]]> http://www.flavorboulevard.com/b-dama-oakland-taste-fresher-than-fresh/feed/ 0 b-dama-monkfish-liver Why don’t I like spicy food? For the same reason I don’t like cupcakes, Chicago pizza or anything that has too much of something for me to taste anything else. For the same reason I shunned sushi for almost 10 years: the first time I had sushi I scooped a spoonful of the lovely green paste into my mouth. Those were 10 years that I could have enjoyed so many hamachi nigiri. It’s sad. But that aside, [...]

Continue reading B-Dama – Taste fresher than fresh